Bowling-ball.



No. 7l2,l92. Patented Oct. 28. I902.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUER IMMEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOWLING-BALL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 712,192, dated October 28, 1902.

Application filed June 6, 1901. Serial No. 63,342. (No model.)-

to the touch and at the same time cushioned sufficiently to prevent liability of breaking or chipping the outer edge of the socket.

With theseends in view my invention consists, broadly, in a bowling-ball provided with finger-sockets having linings of some smooth hard substance and a yielding cushion interposed between the inner lining and the wall of the socket. Y

In the accompanying drawings, Figure a View in section through the finger-sockets of a bowling-ball faced or jacketed with rubber. Fig. 2 is asimilar view through a plain wooden ball. Fig. 3 is a View of a portion of a ball with flat-bottomed socket, and Fig. 4E represents in detail theinner lining and cushion united ready for insertion into a socket.

The body of the wall, Fig. 1, is denoted by a and its rubber facing or jacket by b. The finger-sockets are denoted by c d. The inner lining of the socket is denoted by e' and is preferably formed of vegetable fiber,al,though other hard smooth-surfaced linings might be employed-such, for example, as hard rubber. The inner lining is preferably made of tubular form, closed at its inner end, either by the material of which it is formed, as

shown in Fig. 1, or by the inner end of the sur-' rounding cushion, as shown in Figs. 3and 4. Between the inner lining e and the wall of the socket c or 01 there is interposed a cushion of some soft yielding material, soft or yielding rubber being preferred. This interposed cushion of yielding material, preferably of rubber, may be first inserted in the socket as a thin lining against the outer wall of the socket and then the inner hard smooth tubular lining may be forced into its position, comlis pressing the elastic cushion f between the outer wall of the inner lining e and the inner wall of the socket, thereby locking by frictional contact the lining e in its position and at the same time so supporting the inner lin ing-tube e that when the ball strikes the alley at the mouth of the socket the latter will yield slightly and prevent the chipping or breaking of both thevlining and of the outer edge of the socket, orthe inner lining and its enveloping-cushion may be first united and then insertedinto thesocket. This latter arrangement isparticularly convenient where the linings are shipped to equip balls of the ordinary form. To further secure the socket in position and at the same time provide for its ready insertion, I provide the closed end of the inner lining with a perforation 9 therein, which will admit ofa free escape of air during the insertion of the lining-tube, and by closing the perforation 9 after the liningtube is in placeas, for example, by filling the perforation with a plug of cement or other suitable material h-anytendency of the lining to work outwill tend to form a vacuum behind it, and hence place the tube under atmospheric pressure tending to hold it in place. When the inner end of the lining-tube is closed by the enveloping-cushion, the perforation g, corresponding to the perforation g, is formed in the end of the yielding cushion, as shown in Figs.-3 and 4.

What I claim is A bowling-ball provided with finger-sockets, the said finger-sockets having inner lining-tubes, and an interposed layer of yielding material between the wall of the socket and the lining-tube, the said lining-tube having an opening at its inner end adapted to be closed when the lining is in place to hold the lining under atmospheric pressure against displacement, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in'presence of two witnesses, this 4th day of June,

I V LUER IMMEN.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, C. S. SUNDGREN. 

